Earth 1873?
by Firebrand-Vixen
Summary: What happens when Riddick ends up in a time warp that throws him back into the eighteen hundreds in an old John Wayne movie? Please tell me what you think and be kind.
1. Default Chapter

Prologue

Richard B. Riddick stood on the loading deck of Necropolis. It had been three days since Kyra had died, and three days since he'd become the new Lord Marshall of the Necromonger race. He had yet to decide what he would do. His greatest fear had been realized; Kyra's death. She had looked up to him, and tried to become him. In her pursuit, she had become just what he feared. And with it all she had died. He'd never make that mistake again. He'd never let anyone get that close.

He'd thought hiding on a frozen planet would protect those he'd grown to care about and trust. As long as he was away they would be safe from the merks hunting him. But he'd been wrong. Kyra had signed up with Merks and Imam had been in the midst of everything that brought him back to civilization. Back to everything that he had grown to hate.

Now he was stuck somewhere in between. Necromongers weren't civilization, and Hellion Prime was the beacon planet that called all lost in space home. A place of refuge and a place to find who you were. He couldn't stand this planet, but he still wanted no part of the Necromongers. The half dead that believed, only following through with the 'way' was the only way to see the Underverse. The Underverse, that was a joke and a half.

Boom. Riddick turned at the sound. Before him was what appeared to be a vortex. It was something he'd only ever heard about when he was in the military. Long before he'd become a wanted man. He walked closer as if to inspect it, and found himself drawn in. Before he could react he was pulled into the vortex, and was spinning in space. Where he was going and where he would end up was unknown.

John T. Chance stood starring at the young woman he'd just learned was his daughter. He'd had an affair with her mother when he was young, and she'd left. He'd never known he'd had a child, until today when she showed up on his door step. Her step father stood beside her. He had married her mother and raised her as his own, until now.

Chance felt greatful to him for having raised her. He could hardly believe the redheaded beauty before him was his child. The letter she'd given him was now crumbled as he stood there.

"You can't be shocked speachless. Mother said you were a man of few words, but when you had something to say people listened."

"Chancey, let him think. This has to be a shock to him."

The redhead turned to the man who'd raised her. "Fine." With those words she turned and left.

"Thank you. I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me a thing. But you owe that girl out there the chance to get to know you. She's your daughter. She's known that I wasn't her father since she was twelve years old. And she's wanted nothing more than to know who you were. I think she deserves the opportunity."

"I'd have to agree with you. Just the same, thank you for bringing her here."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Just in case anyone is interested I will give a listing of who each character was played by in the original John Wayne movie. John T Chance was John Wayne. Feathers was Angie Dickenson. Dude was Dean Martin. Colorado was Ricky Nelson. Stumpy was Walter Brennan. This is from the movie Rio Bravo, which I grew up on. My mother is a huge John Wayne fan and wanted me to write this, to combine our generations. My apologies to all involved with either movie if this seems offensive.

Riddick continued to whirl through space. He fell onto hard dusty ground. He stood and brushed himself off as he looked around. There was nothing in sight. This didn't look like anything he'd seen before.

"What planet am I on now?" He wondered out loud.

Suddenly he heard the sounds of hooves on the hard ground. He hadn't heard a horse in a long time. He was sure they were extinct. They had only been on earth that he knew of. Earth? Could that be where he was? He supposed that was possible. But hadn't earth been destroyed. Wasn't it mostly water?

That was when he saw the horse and rider approach him. He stared. The rider wore a cowboy hat and had a gun belt strapped to his waist. No way! He couldn't be here! That was impossible! That was when he noticed that he wasn't even dressed the same as he had been when he'd been sucked into the time warp. He was dressed in a very similar fashion to the rider. Cowboy boots were on his feet, and a cowboy hat lay at his feet. The rider stopped near him. He shielded his eyes from the sun using the brim of his hat.

The rider wore a black cowboy hat with a blue shirt and black trousers. Black boots covered his feet. Unruly black hair was obvious beneath the dark hat, and he could see the rider had brown eyes.

"Where you headed, stranger?"

"I don't know," was Riddick's response.

"Rio Bravo's only a couple miles from here. Can you handle the hike?"

Riddick looked at the man. "Yeah."

The rider jumped down from his horse and stood near him. "I'll walk with ya."

It was then that Riddick saw the badge hidden behind his lapel. "You the sheriff?"

"Just a deputy. They call me Dude."

Dude, Riddick thought. That was strange.

"What do they call you?'

"Riddick."

"Riddick, welcome to Rio Bravo."

He shook the hand of the man named Dude and followed as the man headed back to town. As they neared the small town it became very clear to him that he indeed had stepped back in time. He had seen pictures while in the military of earth as it had been years before America sank into the ocean.This was just like he'd stepped into an old western movie. A time before technology had come to be, and reuined so much of the values that had made America the dream it had been based on.

There had been a time in his life when he'd wished he'd been a part of that. But the resentment of how he'd grown up and lived destroyed all of that. He had nothing to survive on but hatred.

To his surprise so many of the people he'd passed in town said hello and were very nice to him. He realized that he didn't have his goggles on and he could still see in the light. He still saw in shades of purple, but his eyes weren't sore and his head didn't ache from the intense sunlight.

"Here you go. You can book yourself a room, and get a hot meal. Carlos and Consuela will treat you good."

"Thanks."

Riddick stepped inside the hotel. It was the picture of an old western. A dark cherry bar was at one end of the room, and tables fulled otherwise empty space. To his surprise the lobby was nearly empty. Only a handful of people were in the room. Two men were standing at the bar, while a group were eating at another table. He took in the entire room, and everything in it before he moved.

He could easily see that the big burly man with the tan cowboy hat was the man in charge. He stood tall and proud with brown hair and blue eyes. The way he stood, and carried a rifle, meant that he meant business. He would be the one that Riddick would have to avoid.

Beside him stood another man who seemed to carry the same wait. With salt and pepper hair he had blue eyes as well. He was thinner, but his look was dark.

A beautiful woman with a towel laid over her shoulder stepped behind the bar with a smile. "Can I get you anything, Chance?"

"No, Feathers."

Riddick took a seat in the back of the room near the door and pulled his hat down on his face, to cover his eyes. He'd have to find something to wear to shield his eyes from the light and anyone wanting to look at him. Being a stranger in town meant he'd have to do his best not to be noticed, though he knew he would have the attention of the sheriff, when his deputy got a hold of him.

Rio Bravo? Where the hell was Rio Bravo? The only good thing, was he knew he was on earth, but he didn't know how to get home. He'd been tossed back in time, and now he had to figure out some way to get a hold of a time travel device. But could he do it? Could he find something that sophisticated in this time period.

It was then that he caught the scent of Roses. He inhaled deeply, then lifted his head to see a woman standing by the sheriff. Her RED hair hung down to her ankles. She wore a black riding shirt and a purple blouse. She was across the room from him but he could smell the roses. He couldn't quite hear what was being said, but he could hear her voice. It floated across the room to his ears like a sweet melody. The almost raspy sound of a Bonnie Tyler song from the 1980's.

The sound struck him first in the ears, then in the chest and stole his breath. He closed his eyes straining to listen. He felt blood rush through his body setting him afire. He never remembered being effected that way before. Leave it to the untainted beauty of a woman from years past to do it. An innocent woman who couldn't have seen anything like the evil he dealt with on a daily basis. And he had yet to see her face.

Chancey O'Connell turned then and spotted the stranger in the corner. Everyone was a stranger to her in this town, but there was something specific about this one. There was something very different about him. She walked toward the door to leave the two men to talk. As she walked near him, she couldn't help but chance a glance.

"Something I can do for you?"

His soft rugged voice skated across her flesh leaving goosebumps in it's wake. She felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. Chancey found it hard to breathe, and couldn't find her voice. It was then that he looked up meeting her gaze.

"No."


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Chancey dressed in one of her nicest dresses, walked into the Sheriff's office looking for Chance. She found him with his two deputies. They were sitting around a table playing cards.

Chance stood. "Chancey."

"Wade and I were hoping that you and your wife would join us for dinner."

"I'd like that."

"Great. We were just about to sit down, will you join me then?"

Chance grabbed his hat and followed her out. He stopped. "Go on a head. I forgot something. I'll be right along."

"All right."

Chancey turned and left the office. She hated this awkwardness between her and her father. She wished she had grown up with him; known him when she was young. This whole getting to know who he was thing was crazy. And she hated what this was doing to the man who'd raised her. He had been good to her while growing up.

Before she knew what was happening a hand covered her mouth and an arm curled her waist. She tried to scream, but couldn't be heard as she felt herself being dragged away.

She watched in horror as another man came toward her. The possibilities of what they would do to her ran through her mind and she tried to wiggle loose.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The man holding her turned. As he turned she stomped on his foot and he let her go. She moved several feet away and watched as the stranger took on her attackers. She saw him move with animal like speed and agility. He fought like a wolf protecting his own. The next thing she knew her attackers lay dead on her feet.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded, and realized the stranger had been the man who'd spoken to her in the hotel. A hand touched her back and she jumped.

"Chancey, what happened," Chance demanded. Dude and Colorado were with him.

She looked at her father. "They attacked me and he . . ."

"Colorado, get the Chinaman."

The young deputy left them there. He was on his way to wake the chinaman who was the undertaker. No one ever called the man by name but his family. By that time Wade was there with them.

"What were you doing out here?"

Riddick watched Wade check on Chancey. He noticed that they had alot of the town's attention. He'd wanted to avoid the attention. "Star gazing."

"Thank you. Would you have dinner with us? It's the least I can do," Chance offered.

"Thank you, but I already ate."

"Let me buy you a drink then," Wade said.

"All right."

"You can tell me what happened."

Chancey sat and watched Riddick while he drank and they ate their supper. Feathers, Chance's wife sat beside her and tried to make side conversation, but she couldn't focus on anything. She'd seen dead men in the town she'd grown up in but had never seen one killed or felt so scared in all of her life. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling.

"Where are you from, Riddick," Chance asked.

"Doesn't matter. I'm just passin' through," was Riddick's hesitated response.

"Where are you headed," Wade asked.

"Doesn't matter."

"You're welcome to stick around here for a while," Chance said.

Riddick looked at Chancey. "I just might do that."

He downed the whiskey in his glass, and stood. "Thank you." He turned then and walked away.

Chancey jumped to her feet and followed Riddick up the staircase. "Riddick."

He turned. His sideways glance gave a different light to his shinned eyes. With his dark tanned skin he reminded one of Adonis. His muscler form was obvious through the clothes he wore, and she was sure that if he held her in his arms she would be safe from harm. And then she remembered the what had happened in the street earlier that night. He was a dangerous man. A fearless man.

She didn't know what to say. All she knew was she was still alive because of him. He had come to her rescue just like a knight in shinning armor. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you."

Riddick was stunned by the act. He nodded and walked into his room. He realized with a new certainty that this was a world he wouldn't be able to adapt to very easily. He couldn't just blend into the shadows here and only pop up when there was something he had to take care of. He needed to get home.

Home, he thought. Where was home? Necropolis? He didn't belong with the Necromongers, the half dead. Furia? That was a place of the past. Helion Prime? That planet had been invaded by the Necromongers and he couldn't stand a planet that bright.

He had yet to figure out how to get out of here. He was in a time that existed before electricity. He hated God so their was no hope for a miracle. And there was no one to try to find him. He was truly trapped this time. There was no way out and no way of going back. He was truly going to have to adapt to his surroundings and make this life his own.

He had to find a place to live, set up house. Find a job . . . he hadn't had a job since the military. He'd survived with instincts, the ability to adapt to his surroundings and whatever he could get his hands on. Now he had to rejoin the human race. He had to start here in this town.

The question is, Can he do it?


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Riddick watched as John T Chance and Chancey road out of town together. The two were trying to learn about each other. A father and daughter seperated, now reunited wanting to learn everything they had missed and build that relationship. Some where in the back of his mind he understood that longing. He understood the need to know where you come from. To have a place where you belong. A place where no matter what you did you were accepted . . . and loved.

Love, he'd believed to be a joke. He'd helped Jack and Imam, but love didn't factor into that. He'd helped, rescued them from that planet because he was their only hope for survival. Carolyn's willingness to die for them had touched him in a place he'd thought was dead. It had touched his heart.

He'd known when he'd left Jack with Imam on Helion Prime, in New Mecca that if he didn't they would use her to get to him. Merks would use her to draw him out, and he'd been right. Though they hadn't succeeded in the way they'd wanted, they'd still succeeded.

She'd signed up with them and they had tortured her, sent her to prison, and when he found out, he went to rescue her. And though he'd saved her from Crematoria, he'd failed in keeping her alive. He'd cared what happened to her, and now he'd been hurt that she was gone. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he'd actually loved someone. He wasn't as cold as he liked people to believe.

He couldn't reveal that weakness to the Necromongers, they would use it to destroy him. They would do their best to get rid of him any way. He wasn't one of them. He wasn't leading them to their faith. Not that it mattered now. He wasn't going back. He was starting over, again.

He sat on a bench outside the hotel sharpening his weapons of choice. A set of solid silver knives, perfectly balanced.

"I noticed you don't carry a gun? Why?"

Riddick glanced at Colorado who stood leaning against the porch post. The guy was a kid with a badge. He walked around with two guns strapped to his waist. He was at ease, but not cocky about the weapons he carried. Maybe he could take his job.

"You never have to reload."

"Are you any good with those?"

Now he had Riddick's attention. He cracked a half grin. "Are you?"

Colorado glanced down at his gun belt. "I get by."

Riddick's smile widened. "I don't just get by."

Chance led his daughter to one of his favorite spots, where they stopped and watched the water. He didn't know where to begin, what to say or ask. He was still trying to grasp that she was his child.

"Did you love my mother?"

Chance looked at her. That was not a question he'd expected to be asked, but one he could answer honestly.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you marry her?"

"Because I was young and stupid. Your mother was a good woman. Even though she was young, she was very strongwilled and she knew what she wanted. She wanted to be a mother. To have a husband, live on a ranch. She wanted to raise horses they were . . ."

"-her favorite animal, I know. They're mine too. You talk about her like it was only yesterday."

"That's because I could never forget her. When she left, I followed the stage, but she'd bought a ticket at the next stop and kept going. I had no money, I had to come back. I thought about her many times, even wrote her letters."

"But you didn't send them?"

"I had no where to send them. If I had known things would have been different."

Chancey nodded. "That's what Mom always said. I'd like to go back now."

"Sure."

Riddick found himself out behind the sheriff's office teaching the kid how to be a silent killer. Colorado was eager to learn, and Riddick taught. He never would have thought he'd be doing this. But there was something about the innocence of youth that caused him to let his guard down. He'd let Colorado think he was teaching him about guns. It made the situation a little less uncomfortable.

He heard the footsteps on the woodplanks and turned. Before him stood a shinning Chancey. Her long red hair hung loose about her shoulders. The copper colors seemed to crack with a life of their own and set her eyes alight. Green eyes stared back at him.

"Beautiful," the whisper escaped his lips before he thought.

She didn't seem to notice, as she walked down the steps. "Hey, Colorado. Riddick. You don't mind if I join you, do you?"

"Nope," Colorado said. "I thought you and Chance were riding."

"We did. He had some business to take care of and I don't have anything to do."

Colorado turned to Riddick. "Chancey and I grew up in Denver together. I better check back in."

Colorado walked into the sheriff's office. He had to make rounds with Dude.

Riddick inhaled the scent of roses as she moved closer to him. There was a playfulness about her he hadn't seen before. It was written all over her face, in her emerald green eyes, and the way the sunlight played through her hair. In that instance, he decided that she was a vixen.

She was dangerous. She could have no idea just how dangerous she was to a man. The way her scent hung in the air, soft and sweet. The way she looked at him through thick lashes. The way she walked, and the sweet way words rolled off her tongue in that softly raspy voice.

"My mother gave me a knife like that, said to carry it in my boot."

He leaned closer. "How interesting."

His voice sent a strange feeling running through her body. A soft word growled out in a way that made her bones weak. She smiled up into his face.

"You're pretty handy with those. Can I see one?"

Riddick's half grin was his response. Chancey reached over and took the knife from his hand. She studied it.

"It's a beautiful weapon. Perfectly balanced, meant to throw."

Could this moment get any better? Her soft velvety fingers touched his rough calloused hand as she returned the knife.

"You would have died the other night."

She cocked her head as she looked at him. "But I didn't. You saved me."

"I'm an animal, Chancey. You can't trust me," he growled.

"We're all animals, Riddick. What kind . . . that's what makes the difference." With that she turned and left.

Chancey sat down to dinner with Wade, and Colorado. Chance was waiting for Feathers to have his meal. Wade hadn't had much to say since they'd gotten into town. He'd been nothing but supportive in her quest. She looked at him, wishing she knew what to say. Wishing she could understand him.

Chance walked into the hotel. He walked over to their table with a handful of papers.

"Chancey, I told you about these, and I thought it was only right that you have them."

She took the letters. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"What's that," Wade asked.

"Letters that were written to my mother years ago."

Chancey couldn't understand the look on Wade's face but she knew that she didn't like it.

"We're all animals, Riddick. What kind, that's what makes the difference." Her words seemed to echo through his mind. She wasn't afraid of him, but she didn't idolize him the way that Jack had. She wasn't what he had been expecting from a girl her age.

Riddick found himself stunned with his own behavior, even his own reactions. He looked up just in time to see Chance walk over to his table. The man was intimidating, or would have been to most people.

"Can I join you?"

Riddick stopped. He'd been just about to take a drink of the whiskey that set on the table in front of him. He gestured to the empty chair.

"The black smith is looking for help. If you're interested," Chance said.

Riddick turned over the second glass and poured Chance some whiskey.

Chance smiled and took the glass. "We haven't had many like you around here."

Riddick's gaze turned on him. "You don't know the first thing about me. I'm an animal, and I'll kill every person in this town! Don't even attempt to think that you know me."

"I didn't realize that you were sure a bare faced liar."

Riddick's gaze turned dark.

"An animal doesn't save other people from certain death or even a worse fate. Animals turn on their own."

"Animals survive," Riddick responded.

"Animals care only for themselves. They kill to survive, not to protect their own kind. When their young are grown they don't protect them any more. Animals are out for themselves. If you're an animal, you have a funny way of showing it." Chance finished his drink, then stood. "Thanks for the drink."

Riddick watched then as Chance walked away. He had to get out of here. These people were driving him nuts! He hated civilization and light, and this town was just that. When everyone seemed to be leaving him alone, either Chance, Chancey or Colorado was bothering him.

He almost wished that he hadn't left the UV planet. He would have lived on that frozen heap for another several years without a problem. There was enough life there for him to survive on. Then there was the realization that he wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't get off this planet. He couldn't even get out of this time.

He growled as he sat there. There was no escape for him. This was just like being in a slam. Crematoria. Just like that. There was no escape. No skiff to use to get away, and there was no other escape from that place. It was a hell hole and he was stuck.

He stood and walked outside. The dark night was almost a comfort. As he rounded the corner of the hotel, he sensed someone move up behind him. He turned and the man threw his hands up in the air.

"I didn't mean to startle you, friend."

"I ain't your friend!"

"I have an offer for you."

Riddick studied the man. "I'm listening."

"Nathan Burdette wants to rid this town of Sheriff John T. Chance, Deputies Dude, and Colorado. We've been watching you. Mr. Burdette thinks that you'd be up to the job. What do you say?"

Riddick laughed at him. "Me?"


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Chancey sat on the back steps of the hotel reading the letters that her father had written to her mother. She couldn't help the sadness that swept her as she read the words he'd written. She knew that he'd loved her with his whole heart. He'd been willing to give up so much for her if she'd come back to him.

That was the kind of love she wanted. She wanted to find a man that would love her that much. So many of the girls she had known growing up had married men that their father's approved of, not ones that they loved. The men they had married hadn't loved them either. They had been out with the women in the bars, not caring that their wife and children were home wanting to spend time with them.

Chancey shook the thoughts away, and refolded the letter. She placed the yellowed paper back in it's envelope and tried to wipe her tears away.

"Why do you care so much about something so far in the past"

Chancey looked up to find Riddick standing there. She felt her entire body stiffen. She straightened her back and met his gaze.

"Because it's where I come from. It's who I am."

"I've spent my life not knowing where I come from and I don't care."

"That's the difference between you and me, Mr. Riddick. I do care. Where I come from matters to me. It's all I have left of my mother. Even you must be able to understand that. You're running from your past, and you don't even know where you're running to."

"I'm not running. I don't have anything to run to and nothing to run from. You nor anyone else here knows anything about me."

Chancey shook her head. "People can only know what you let them see about you or what you tell them about your past. I wanna be able to tell people about mine. I wanna be able to say that my mother and father loved each other; that I was concieved in love not lust."

"What's that matter"

Chancey took a deep breath and met his gaze. "Because it does. I've been called a bastard my whole life because my parents weren't married when my mother got pregnant. The whispers behind my back made me hate her."

"Your mother"

"I blamed her for it, then she got sick. She died three months later. She had cancer."

Riddick sat down beside her on the steps. "I was left in a liquor store garbage can with an imbellical cord wrapped around my neck. I've spent half my life in a slam with a horse bit in my mouth. None of it matters."

Chancey looked him in the eye. "If it didn't matter you wouldn't be the person that you are. You wouldn't be yelling at everyone telling them that they didn't know who you are. You wouldn't tell me that I didn't know anything about you. I know what I see, Riddick, and I see a man so driven by his past that he won't let anyone get close enough to know who he is. I don't wanna be that way. I don't want to become a fridgid woman."

He threw his head back and laughed. "A fridgid woman doesn't play with fire."

"I'm an animal, remember."

"Aren't we all"

Chancey laughed. "Maybe we should rejoin the human race, and stop relying on our animal instincts."

"Honestly I wouldn't know how."

"I can teach you."

Leaning closer to her, he said. "You're so young. Are you sure you wanna tangle with this monster"

Chancey smiled. "Didn't the beauty tame the beast"

"I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never a beast" he responded wearing a sheepish grin.

"There's always a first time . . . for everything."

His eyes narrowed. "You get off on the thrill of the hunt, but what happens when you capture your prey"

"Cats tend to play with their prey before they eat it" she purred.

He laughed. "So you're a cat. What's that make me? A mouse? A rabbit"

"You're a wild stallion."

"Noble animal. I'll take that as a compliment. We'll see if I can live up to that."

Chancey looked deep into his eyes. "I'm sure you can" she said in a sultry chuckled invitation.

"AH"

The scream came from inside the hotel. Riddick and Chancey were on their feet in seconds, and headed into the hotel. They found Feathers standing on the bar. Chancey's brow furrowed and she looked over the edge of the bar to see a timber snake crawling across the floor.

Chancey smiled and walked around the bar.

"Don't"

Chancey reached down and picked up the snake. "It's just a timber snake, Feathers. It won't hurt you. She's just looking for a cool place to be."

"Get that thing out of here"

Chancey laughed. "Come on, Missy. You belong outside."

Riddick couldn't help the feeling running through him as he watched her. He was amazed by her in almost everyway.

Chancey came back inside when she had put the snake outside in the shade.

"Where is it" Feathers asked.

Chancey looked at her. "Out back. She wouldn't have hurt you."

Feathers jumped down off the bar. "It's a snake"

"She was just looking for a cool place to be. She's getting ready to lay eggs."

Feathers rolled her eyes. "The last thing we need are those nasty things around here"

Chancey laughed. "You're in the wild west, Feathers. Try living in the mountains, they're in your house all the time. You gotta hope they don't get in your bed."

"Ugh! They're disgusting" Feathers looked at her. "Where'd Riddick go"

Chancey turned. She hadn't heard him go. Something inside her sank. She'd been hoping to continue their conversation. She shook her head. "I don't know."

"What were you two talking about"

Chancey looked at her. "Animals."

Riddick went to the stables on the edge of town to think about the conversation he'd had with Chancey earlier. He couldn't seem to get her off his mind. He'd never expected a woman to behave they was she was. Everything he'd learned about women from this time era, said they were very conservative and shy. Women weren't bold and forth right.

He liked her, he liked this. He liked the simplicity of this place, of this life. He would have a lot of adjusting to do to get to a point where this place became home, but at least he could live here. At least he was adapting to this place.

Chancey's words echoed through his mind. "I can teach you." Little did she know. She couldn't teach him. She'd run at the first sight of who he was. She'd run at what he was.

Kyra hadn't, he heard a voice whisper. No she hadn't run. She'd idolized him, wanted to become him, and now she was gone. Kyra was dead. She'd died trying to become like him, trying to save him. He couldn't make that mistake again.

He like Chancey, and wanted her so bad that he could taste it. But he couldn't let her get hurt the way Kyra had. He couldn't let that happen to another one. The people around him kept dying. This was a new place. A place where he could start over and make a new life. He could keep those close to him safe here. He'd stepped into a vortex, a time warp, or something. The mercs weren't gonna follow him here. They couldn't.

Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murder, Lord Marshall of the Nercomonger race was dead. He really could start fresh here. He could make this world anything he wanted it to be. He could become anything he wanted to be. He could live up to her expectations, and become the nobel beast she thought him to be.

Riddick swallowed hard at the thought. Could he really change? Could he stop running, and looking over his shoulder all the time? Could he make a life in this world without all the technology he was used to? Could he make this life work?


End file.
